panhandle009_bw.jpg A woman named December stood with her panhandling sign on the narrow traffic island on South Van Ness near the highway entrance.
A new panhandling law goes into effect in San Francisco soon...it will outlaw panhandling on traffic medians and in front of ATM machines or banks. BRANT WARD / The Chronicle MANDATORY CREDIT FOR PHOTOG AND SF CHRONICLE/ -MAGS OUT

Photo: BRANT WARD

panhandle009_bw.jpg A woman named December stood with her...

New panhandling law -- S.F. to take it easy / City says it will use persuasion, not jail

The anti-panhandling law San Francisco voters passed last November takes effect today, but don't expect a big change on the streets -- yet.

The city intends to enforce the new law gently, using it not so much as a police tool as an opportunity to persuade homeless people to trade in their panhandling cups and signs for spots in emergency shelters or counseling programs.

Instead of getting hustled off to jail by squads of cops when they're caught near ATMs or in traffic lanes -- prohibited spots under the law -- panhandlers are more likely to get visits from social workers. Police officers will warn panhandlers verbally about the law and will issue citations if they become belligerently persistent, but that's not the main thrust of the city's plan.

"The idea is not to just throw the homeless into cells, but to help them, " said Mayor Gavin Newsom, who wrote the law, which was called Proposition M on the ballot. "The main thing is, we don't want them suffering on the streets, and if they're not suffering it's better for everyone, including them."

Chance Martin, editor of the Street Sheet newspaper, said the goal of giving homeless people the counseling and housing they need is laudable. He's just not sure it will be available enough to make a difference, even though city officials say homeless people referred by outreach teams will be pushed ahead on waiting lists.

"I'm afraid the people with shopping carts and panhandling signs are the new scapegoat," he said. "I'm afraid the actual intent is to make San Francisco as inhospitable as possible so they'll all go away."

Not many homeless people seem to even be aware that the law is about to be put into practice; technically, it becomes effective six months after certification of the election. A Newsom spokesman said the idea is to phase in the law over the next few weeks.

"I thought it was already in place, whatever it is," said 46-year-old Tim Bundy, panhandling at the corner of Van Ness Avenue and Mission Street on Monday. "If they tell me to move, I'll move, but I'll believe it when I see it. "

It's not that aggressive panhandling wasn't already illegal -- it was. Or that police couldn't already arrest the homeless for blocking traffic or for panhandling around ATM bank machines -- they could.

What Newsom's law did was tighten and reiterate the rules, mainly by setting a 20-foot perimeter around ATMs and specifically naming traffic dividers and highway ramps as prohibited places for begging. It also put new emphasis on referring homeless people to drug diversion or mental health programs instead of jail -- the city's principal approach for years.

Studies have shown that among the city's homeless population of up to 15, 000 people, about 30 percent are mentally ill and 70 percent are addicted to either drugs or alcohol. But among the 3,000 to 5,000 "hard core," those who are most troubled and most visible on the street, about 90 percent have either substance abuse or mental problems or a combination of both.

Those high percentages are why the city wants to emphasize treatment over lockups.

"We've learned that just throwing the homeless into jail doesn't really change their behavior, so that's not what's going to happen," said Dr. Mitch Katz, director of the Department of Public Health. "It's a last resort. What will happen is that we will be engaging them, helping them understand that they have other choices."

The 10 members of Katz's homeless outreach team already have been on the streets for two weeks starting this persuasion process, so the activation of Prop. M won't make much difference to them. And it won't be their job to enforce the law -- that will be up to the police, who expect to spend far more time talking to homeless people than writing them tickets.

"Starting Tuesday, we will be doing a public information campaign," said police spokesman Dewayne Tully. "We will be engaging them, not undertaking wholesale citings." He said that after 30 days of this information campaign, officers will begin to issue warnings and citations if necessary. But nobody in city government is anticipating much of that will be necessary.

"The most appropriate way to approach this is doing a public health-based outreach," said District Attorney Kamala Harris, who has met with police captains, advocates for homeless people, merchants and community groups to discuss the panhandling law. "We're not going to solve this problem through the criminal justice system.

"I'm anticipating we're going to get people into treatment programs."

Proposition M

What's prohibited:

-- Aggressive panhandling in public places;

-- Panhandling within 20 feet of an ATM machine or check-cashing business;

-- Panhandling anyone in vehicles on a street or highway on-ramp or off- ramp;

-- Panhandling in a parking lot or on public transportation.

Aggressive panhandling is defined as:

-- Causing fear in a person being solicited or using violent or threatening gestures;

-- Persisting once a person has refused, or following a person while panhandling;

-- Purposely blocking a vehicle or person.

Punishment for violating the law:

-- Referral to a drug-rehabilitation or mental health counseling program;

-- Three months' community service or jail time if cited three times in a year.